Who is Serving Whom: A Dilemma for Short Term Mission?

What could be better than to give your gap-year or your annual holidays to serve people who are poorer than you are? Every year, thousands of Brits go on short-term mission trips and return home with great stories of the places they’ve been, the things they’ve done and the people they have met.

However, viewed from the other side, from the point of view of those receiving these well-intentioned Brits, things might look very different.

This excellent article looks at some of the pitfalls of what it calls voluntourism; it isn’t specifically about Christian mission trips, but many of the situations are similar.

As admirably altruistic as it sounds, the problem with voluntourism is its singular focus on the volunteer’s quest for experience, as opposed to the recipient community’s actual needs. There is a cost associated with such an endeavor. A 2010 report by the Human Sciences Research Council, based in Pretoria, South Africa, analyzed the thriving AIDS orphan tourism business in South Africa.

Under this program, well-to-do tourists sign up to build schools, clean and restore riverbanks, ring birds and act as caregivers to AIDS orphans for a few weeks. This led to the creation of a profitable industry catering to volunteer tourists. The orphans’ conditions are effectively transformed into a boutique package in which “saving” them yields profits from tourists. The foreigners’ ability to pay for the privilege of volunteering crowds out local workers.

Africa is traditionally a favorite destination for those searching for saviordom, but the harms of voluntourism are not limited to that continent. On the Indonesian island of Bali, for example, a burgeoning orphanage industry exists to cater to voluntourists who want to help children. Children leave home and move to an orphanage because tourists, who visit the island a couple of times a year, are willing to pay for their education.

These children essentially work as orphans because their parents cannot afford to send them to school. Instead of helping parents cater to the needs of their children, the tourist demand for orphans to sponsor creates an industry that works to make children available for foreigners who wish to help. When the external help dries up, these pretend orphans are forced to beg on the streets for food and money in order to attract orphan tourism.

However, despite the real downsides to these sorts of schemes, the article doesn’t argue that volunteering should stop.

Despite its flaws, the educational aspect of voluntourism’s cross-cultural exchange must be saved, made better instead of being rejected completely.

Reading these two articles together is a good exercise for anyone who is involved in short-term mission trips, either as an organiser or participant. There are serious issues involved when relatively rich and inexperienced people want to ‘make a difference’ in situations which are usually far more complex and nuanced than they realise. Equally, this should not stop us from doing so – it should just push us to do things better. Another excellent resource is the Global Connections’ Best Practice for Short Term Mission. That last link also gives a list of organisations who are certified as following best practice. If you are considering getting involved in a short-term team, this list is the best place to start.

Perhaps I’m living a sheltered life but I can’t conceive of doing a short-term mission outside of a relationship with long-term workers (missionaries or locals) on the ground, who are (hopefully) going to have a better idea of people’s needs and how to serve them sustainably. That would mitigate a lot of these problems, I think.

Certainly when we did our short term focus last year (the hundred overseas project) the most successful teams where those who connected to long term missions in the host country.

A sound point and well made – one we hit regularly in the burgeoning short-term medical mission trips, which, if anything, can be even more damaging (but if done right, actually do benefit the recieving community and the volunteers). – http://admin.cmf.org.uk/pdf/international/stmw.pdf is our guide to what to avoid and what to consider when planning such visits. The key is relationships, especially with the local community and local church (the two are not always the same thing!).

I think your life is relatively sheltered, Simon! Yes, there is a lot of good practice out there, but equally, there are a lot of organisations and church groups who do short term mission without the foundation of relationship, or without listening. We seem determined to repeat the mistakes of the past.

I think if people are genuinely interested in being long term missionaries, and are trying to figure out how they can most effectively contribute, short term mission trips can be a good idea (as long as they aren’t taking away opportunities from local skilled tradesmen/women who coulf do it better and use the pay to support their families). At least it could be more productive than spending thousands on flights somewhere to lie on a beach!

However, I do think that (as you have said) there are many teams that go out and unwittingly do more damage than good. My heart breaks when I think of how far the money they spend on their flights could go in that country and the essentials it could be spent on.

It is good for people to be aware of the pitfalls but at the same time, many long term missionaries went on short term trips when they were younger which triggered off a desire to serve on the mission field.

A friend started a ministry to street children in about African country. Seeing how well the children were cared for, a local father of modest means asked if he abandoned his son would my friend take him into the program. This shocked my friend, so he added a program that supports poor families with children. It’s not perfect, but I love that he evaluated his real impact and made a change.